Such a detection device for cleaning mops is previously known, for example, from German utility model DE 200 16 620 U1.
The cleaning mop previously known from this document is provided with a cleaning fabric on the side facing the floor to be cleaned in normal use and comprises, in the side end region on the opposite side, a respective open receiving pocket which is formed by means of attached pocket layers, it being possible for the end sections of a preferably foldable mop holder to be inserted into said receiving pockets.
Such cleaning mops have been commercially available for many years and are used to pick up contaminants from flat surfaces, such as floors or walls. Cleaning mops of this type are used, for instance, to clean floors in hospitals or clinics and other medical establishments. There are particularly strict hygiene requirements in these sectors, and thus the cited cleaning mops or mop coverings have to be cleaned and disinfected at prescribed time intervals. The mop cleaning intervals are regulated as a function of the surface that is treated by the respective mop. Firstly, there is therefore the problem that the mop cleaning intervals have to be monitored. Said mops are also only allowed to run through a prescribed number of cleaning intervals before they have to be replaced. A further considerable problem within the context of cleaning said mops accordingly consists in the fact that cleaning very often takes place outside of the cited establishments, in other words in special cleaning facilities. When monitoring the cleaning intervals, there is therefore an additional interest in being able to also detect and check the number of mops. This interest is especially intensified in that in the last few years, it has been found that there has been a virtually inexplicable loss of said mops in said establishments. It is largely unclear whether this loss is to be attributed to the hospital staff employed or to said cleaning establishments or to other causes entirely. This problem could previously only be adequately solved in that the mops handed over for cleaning were counted before dispatch and the cleaned mops counted again once they had been returned. It is understood that counting, in particular of the mops soiled from cleaning, is a time-consuming and not exactly pleasant manual task.
Starting from this prior art, DE 200 16 620 U1 proposes the use of the RFID tags that are known per se. A detailed description of these RFID tags and the engineering achieved in this regard can be found, for instance, in DE 101 55 935 A1.
The RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) tags substantially consist of contactlessly scannable transponder systems. These are oscillating circuits with a defined resonant frequency. The tag substantially consists in this regard of an antenna coil with one or more windings, which is electrically coupled to a chip. As soon as said antenna coil is brought into the alternating magnetic field of a transmitting antenna, an inductive coupling between the transmitting antenna and the antenna coil of the tag is produced. An electric voltage is induced in the tag by the alternating electromagnetic field, which voltage ultimately ensures the voltage supply of the silicon chip integrated in the circuit, i.e. the so-called “transponder IC”. Alternatively, said silicon chip is omitted in the simple 1-bit transponders, and thus the RFID tag is only composed of said antenna coil and an oscillating circuit consisting of a coil and a capacitor, whereby owing to the excitation of this oscillating circuit, preferably with the resonant frequency thereof, the RFID tag for its part measurably weakens the alternating magnetic field generated by the transmitting antenna. Using the 1-bit transponder, the existence of a transponder of this type can substantially only be digitally detected and the contents of a silicon chip with additional individual data, for instance, cannot be read out. 1-bit transponders are used, for example, as an anti-theft device in large stores. In this case it is sufficient to actually detect whether a transponder of this type, which is firmly attached to an item of clothing for example, is moved past a reader, which is usually arranged in the exit region of a large store, in an unauthorised manner—in other words without making a corresponding payment.
This technology is advantageously used according to DE 200 16 620 U1 to count the cited mops. The aforementioned RFID tags are sewn for this purpose into a corresponding receiving pocket of the cleaning mop, the previously known solution not relating to 1-bit transponders but rather to transponders with an integrated memory chip. The data individualising the respective cleaning mop, for example a serial number, the date of manufacture, manufacturer's details, proprietor's details, for instance the name of the hospital, as well as details regarding the first, second and/or last chemical cleaning of the cleaning mop, is assigned to the chip. The memory chip is both readable and writable. For this purpose, the cleaning mop must be guided over a card reading device or over a reading/data input device, respectively.
This solution allows the process of counting the mops in question to be significantly simplified and, moreover, allows said cleaning intervals to be monitored using electronic means. The degree of automation of counting and/or acquiring the data stored in connection with the mops that is to be achieved with a reader of this type is nevertheless kept within limits. To be able to reliably detect an RFID tag arranged in the alternating electromagnetic field of a transmitting antenna, it must firstly be ensured that the distance between the antenna for coupling the operating voltage into the RFID tags and the RFID tag itself is not too large. It is currently assumed, using the field strengths that are still compatible with the surroundings, that the distance between RFID tag and antenna must not be greater than 30 cm.
Furthermore, the RFID tag must be arranged relative to the transmitting antenna while maintaining a specific orientation. The tag with the integrated coil is ideally moved past the reader such that the coil surface surrounded by the coil is moved past the coil surface of the transmitting/receiving antenna so as to be more or less parallel. This ensures that the field lines of the electromagnetic field generated by the transmitting/receiving antenna intersect the coil surface almost orthogonally. In any case, the angle between the coil surface and the surface enclosed by the antenna of the tag should not exceed 45 degrees since otherwise sufficient penetration of the antenna coil surface of the RFID tag, and thus the required inductive coupling into the relevant tag, is no longer ensured. Reliable identification and/or reliable reading out of the RFID tag by the respective transmitting/receiving antenna is no longer ensured in this case.
According to the closest prior art represented by DE 200 16 620 U1, in order to count and check the mops, it is therefore more or less still necessary to move the mops past a transmitting and receiving antenna, for instance by means of a conveyor belt or by hand, such that they are more or less exactly aligned. This is still regarded as being unsatisfactory, in particular in conjunction with a large number of mops.